Newb Marine Journal

[collared_drifter]

I must be going snorkling way to much now days... (what else am i supposed to do) and well the reef i swim around is simply one of the most beautiful things in the world... i swear i think it has every type of fish you could ever imagine? ) anyways... ive been keeping fresh water tanks for quite a while now days... and i have to say... im getting really bored with the selection of fish... most of them dont even compare to the colors and other things that reef fish offer! i mean of course i still love all of them. and especially my fish... but i not to long ago decided to mix it up a bit. and start my first saltwater tank. and this one, im promising myself, that it will be the absolute most beautiful most atractive, and not to mention succesful tank that i have ever made...
so i started off taking a nice dive into waiamea beach... (to get a little inspiration) and the first clown fish i see, i think, I WANT THAT. lol... so im looking at all the nice corals and inverts, and reef, and fish and everything else that a good dive will offer you. and i wonder... "wouldnt it be cool to have this right in my room? all of this, all of these colors, and life, and action..."
and thats how i got interested into making one for myself... ive seen alot of tanks that i simply LOVE. and then a fiew that im not so fond of... but all in all. they all give me inspiration. and ideas.
right away after day dreaming in a googled sea of photos, i finally decided that i was actually gonna do this.
so after that, ive been researching like crazy, mad, whak, whatever you want to call it... and ive even compiled a huge list on a white board that says in bold print "Finding Nemo is Coming to my Bedroom"
haha thats funny... anyways... it has all of the fish that im interested in, that many people reccomend for begginers. it also has all the hardware listing and lots of little sayings like, "make the reef move" and such... its mainly a big beautiful mess of words and lines.
but after doing some ressearch on hardware... i come to a conclution that i have a problem... MONEY. its mainly the hardware that strikes me as expensive... and o dont know if there are alternatives for any of them...
here are my estimates for the hardware made for a 30 gallon tank:
tank itself: 40 dollers
filter: 80 dollers
skimer: 40 dollers
power heads altogether: 30 dollers
wave maker thing: 20 dollers
lighting: 100 dollers
heating: 20 dollers
grand estimate total: 330 bucks...
i really dont want to spend this much money... i'd love it to go down to about 250, but im estimating right now, and i dont want to lie to myself. (haha)
basically, i dont think that i know if im right or not about this stuff... so please PLEASE! help me find a better solution, and or suggestions, or corrections...
im not really sure of where to go with lighting, it needs to suit a 30 gallon aquarium, with a good amount of live rock and aLOT of things like zoos, and mushrooms and stuff like that.. i have no final direction for it... so many different choises.. and i dont know which is which, im trying to find the cheapest, yet works up to the tanks standerds... so please help me!
filters im pretty sure about that price
skimer i also need help on, remember that it needs to be just in my budget, (cheaper then 50 bucks)
power heads i really dont need help
and also heaters i dont really need help
i have a question!
if i put base rock, (dead rock) in with live sand, would it become populated again? (or live?) im also gonna ad to the rocks lots of polyps and mushrooms and all the things that grow on rocks. and also, what kind of organisms live in live sand?
i think ive covered everything...
O WAIT! THE FISH!
ok these are the fish that im interested in, of course im not gonna put all of them in, but im gonna choose only a fiew like narrow it down, notice that im choosing fish good for begginers...
true percula clown
ocellaris clown
yellow tail damsel
court jester goby
algae blenny
purple fire fish
spotted cardinal fish
clown goby
black and white clown percula
i'll choose as many as i can stock into the tank safley
im also going to buy many cleanup crew type animals. (like stars, and crabs, and snails)
hmmm... i dont know what else to add...
except that i would like to spend about 275 dollers for hardware... and the rest like fish, rock, and inverts and stuff i'll take care of. (cause i know the figures on those)
i thank anyone so much if you helped me, so i'll update this soon!

 

[collared_drifter]

hey, i just learned that i might be able to just not use a filter at all ( besides skimmer ) would my tank be ok with only live rock as the filter? along with live sand? including the skimmer and power heads?

 

[superman]

You will have to buy used! That is the simple fact of it, I feel for you. If you happen to live close to The Twin Cities in Minnesota I can help you out ( I have a ton of used equipment that I could sell to you within your budget) The skimmer is one thing that you simply can not skimp on, a good one for a 30-55 gallon tank is going to cost at least $100. You could go with power compact lighitng (though I would recommend a 150 watt HQI with VHO actinic suppliment) Even if you go with just power compact lighting you are still going to spend at leat $80.
Here is a list of what I think a 30 gallon tank would require (though I still recommend a 40 gallon breeder tank)

Lighting-$80+
SKimmer-$100+
Maxijet 1200 powerheads-$60
Heating-$40+
Tank&Stand-$60+

This is for all the basic equipment, not including any livestock, sand, rock etc. I would by the equipment over time, check out ebay and try to get plugged into a local reef club, where are you located? I might be able to help you find a local reef club, they are so valuable and you can get all kinds of used equpment for a very reasonable price.

hey, i just learned that i might be able to just not use a filter at all ( besides skimmer ) would my tank be ok with only live rock as the filter? along with live sand? including the skimmer and power heads?

Yes, but I personally would not set up a tank under 55 gallons without a refugium as an added filter and PH stabilizer.

 

[collared_drifter]

i live in hawaii... but if you could find a club or somthing like that it would be great! and by the way i walready have a stand, and i cant fit a 40 gallon for the space i have, im puting this in my room. would the tank be ok if i didnt get a filter? and also will the dead rock become live?

im gonna shop arounf ebay, you dont really come across used aquarium equipment very often in classifieds...

 

[collared_drifter]

i'll post what i think i should get as hardware... im looking around on ebay, and by the looks of it i could save like 150 bucks!

 

[collared_drifter]

what about these fish? ive heard that they are all good for nano aquariums,
true perculla clown
yellow tail damsel
court jester goby
ocellaris clown
algea blenny
purple fish fish
spotted cardinal fish
clown goby
neon blue goby
black and white clown



and im not entireley sure about the size of the aquarium im getting, so it may just be a 40 gallon, after all... where i live they tank itself costs about 1 a doller a gallon, so a 40 gall would be about 40 dollers.
these are all of the fish that appeal to me most. and are said to be good begginer fish. (my sources may be wrong)

 

[Tiggs]

you would be WELL advised to ask people who spent the sort of mone you plan to to show you pics of their set ups.....i have no idea what a "cheap" tank looks like so cant comment.

i do know that most of the show tanks you see on the net cost thousands and you will have ajob to create that on a budget (if thats your plan)

 

[steelhealr]

Hi..all the fish you listed are good nano sized candidates. There are minor negatives to a few of them,but, in general, they stay small and are relatively easy to keep. SH

 

[collared_drifter]

you would be WELL advised to ask people who spent the sort of mone you plan to to show you pics of their set ups.....i have no idea what a "cheap" tank looks like so cant comment.

i do know that most of the show tanks you see on the net cost thousands and you will have ajob to create that on a budget (if thats your plan)

i dont plan on trying to only spend like 200 dollers... i plan on having a hardware budget of about 400 dollers. (not including fish or accesories)
besides, ive found that my hardware is not gonna cost so much, because im buying some stuff from ebay, i'll post my hardware steup later

 

[maestro]

you would be WELL advised to ask people who spent the sort of mone you plan to to show you pics of their set ups.....i have no idea what a "cheap" tank looks like so cant comment.

i do know that most of the show tanks you see on the net cost thousands and you will have ajob to create that on a budget (if thats your plan)

i dont plan on trying to only spend like 200 dollers... i plan on having a hardware budget of about 400 dollers. (not including fish or accesories)
besides, ive found that my hardware is not gonna cost so much, because im buying some stuff from ebay, i'll post my hardware steup later

Unforunately I think your budget is not realistic, dotn forget things live live rock which may cost you $200+ alone

 

[parker313]

You could get live sand and have it colonize the live rock, but that would take WAY too long. You just simply can't skimp on live rock in such a small tank. You *need* at least 30 pounds of live rock (40-45 would be better) and most places, live rock is approx $8 a pound.

Don't forget that you also need to account for things like a hydrometer/refractometer, thermometer and the water itself. Tap water is generally too high in phosphates and will leave you with a bigtime algae problem. You can buy RO water from the lfs and mix saltwater yourself but a lot of people with tanks the size of yours, and larger, often choose to buy their own RO system and that's easily another couple hundred dollars.

Yes, tanks can be done on a budget, but I don't think your budget is nearly big enough